By Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo(published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 1/30/14)

Just a few
years ago, when word spread that space was coming available in downtown Santa
Barbara’s new Anacapa Project, Martin Brown wanted in.

“I didn’t
necessarily need another winery to run, but I knew I couldn’t miss out on what
was going on down here,” he says.

This folder contains the Area 5.1 tasting list

Brown is the
marketing whiz behind Kalyra, the feel-good winery that set roots in the Santa
Ynez Valley in the late 90s and enjoyed a starring role in the film Sideways
before it launched its lower State Street tasting room in 2007.The renaissance of the Funk Zone, right
around the corner, began in earnest soon after – a rebirth that, today, is
anchored by the property that houses The Lark, Les Marchands, Lucky Penny and a
handful of libation ventures, including Brown’s Area 5.1.

Today, Brown
marvels at what the Funk Zone has quickly become: “It’s cleaned up and is a fun
destination now,” he says.“It’s relaxed,
and everybody’s really cool.Not the
older drinking crowd, not the college crowd, but something in between.”

And in that sweet
spot somewhere in between, Area 5.1 has found the perfect launching pad.

The notion
behind this new wine venture is quirky by design – it’s riddled with
intergalactic motifs – and born from the fact that Brown and his winemaker
brother, Mike, are foreigners themselves.

Inside Area 5.1

“It was a
stupid concept, actually, that we came up with years ago after several glasses
of red wine,” jests Brown, an Australian native.“Several glasses,” he insists.

“We were
looking at our new green cards, and they said we were now resident aliens.And soon we started thinking that the concept
could be really cool.That Area 51, and
aliens, could actually be a great name for a winery.And after we mocked up some labels, we
thought that this could really happen.”

The official
name is Area 5.1 – five-point-one – though local wine fans are more likely to
go with Area 51.“But we didn’t want to get into trouble with
other businesses that have the Area 51 name,” says Brown.“Or the government.”

As you enter Area 5.1, look up

Area 51, of
course, is the heavily-guarded remote zone in the
Arizona desert that’s been at the center of UFO conspiracy theories for
decades.That out-of-this-world motif is
pervasive at the Anacapa Street tasting room, from the tasting list presented
in a manila folder stamped “Confidential” to the nomenclature on the labels –
wines with names like “Close Encounter” and “Conspiracy Red.”When I visited the tasting room earlier this
week, I admired the underside of the entrance awning, which pays homage to the
early days of America’s space program, the stark blue wall inside – like a vast
night sky – and the tiny spaceship behind the bar.

Behind the bar at Area 5.1

“We’re
bottling not just wines, but wine concepts,” Chad Nassif tells me as he starts
my pours; he’s the tasting room manager, though his business card ID’s him as
“Squadron Leader.”

And therein lays
the vast space for creativity that Mike Brown and his crew of winemakers –
including Kalyra assistant winemaker Matt Kowalczyk – have to work with.The Area 5.1 lineup is driven by blends.Ecclectic blends.Unusual combinations of grapes.But permutations that work.

“I go to
Mike and tell him what we need,” says Brown, “and he goes out and makes
it.”It’s a combination of winemaking
expertise and marketing knack that serves this label well.

On the white
front, the 2012 Close Encounter ($22) combines Grenache blanc and rousanne –
grapes native to northern Rhone in France – with little-known loureiro, a grape
native to northern Spain and grown in very limited quantity in Santa Barbara
County.Big fruit and a round mouth feel
give way to a clean finish.

The 2012
Equinox ($24) is heavy on viognier, but the addition of rousanne, marsanne and albarino
helps deliver a floral nose, guava flavors on the tongue and a refreshing
finish.

A third
white – White Light – is in barrel and slated for release soon.

The reds all
exhibit both drinkability and a wonderful potential to age.The 2012 Majestic($28) – 25% each of sangiovese, barbera,
nebbiolo and tempranillo – balances tart fruit and a buxom body
beautifully.And it illustrates the Area
5.1 vibe perfectly.Fact is, creative
blending means that bending the rules of winemaking is embraced here.“Each wine is like a canvas,” Brown tells
me.So when the original Majestic
release sold out – it was much heavier on the sangiovese – a totally new
version was divined and released.And
for the consumer, the drinking experience remains new and fresh.

The 2011
Conspiracy Red ($28), which blends 50% syrah with equal parts merlot and
cabernet, is rounded and supple, with a very pretty candied cherry nose.And the 2012 Collusion – syrah-driven with
splashes of mourvedre and Grenache sourced in Happy Canyon – is rich and meaty,
with an herbal streak and blueberry tones.

The tasting roster
– you pay $10 for five wines – doesn’t usually include a taste of the 2010
Declassified ($20, 375 ml.), the winery’s port-style dessert wine.But Nassif treated a trio of tasters down the
bar – visitors from Chicago – to a few sips, and they raved.“And I am not a dessert wine person,” I heard
one of them say.Indeed, this wine, made
with mostly-locally grown Portuguese grapes like Tinta Cao and Touriga
Nacional, was delicious and, most importantly for me, wonderfully
balanced.At close to 19% alcohol, and
with more than 12% residual sugar, it’s made to satisfy and impress.

Area 5.1 has
two wine club tiers – two 6-pack deliveries a year for about $100-$150 each and
two case deliveries annually for $200-$250.

And the
tasting room, even through its deliberately quirky façade, hits on all the
right points: ambiance, service, wine.It stays open till 7pm weekdays and 8pm weekends, which draws many to
enjoy wine by the glass here -- $6 for white and $8 for red.The bar also sells a cheese plate for
$15.And they’ll premiere a chocolate
tasting menu for $10 with a special event on Valentine’s Day, featuring the
truffles of Santa Barbara’s Zuzu Candies.Several private parties have been helped here, too, since its September
opening; it can handle about 40 people.

Squadron Leader Chad Nassif at the controls

“We want
people to think of us as non-traditional, fun and not stuffy at all,” Nassif
tells me.Sure enough, the Browns have
managed to create another unique experience here.And once you take off, you won’t want to
touch down any time soon.

By Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo(published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 1/30/14)

After just
four months in business, one of the Funk Zone’s most high profile wineries is
moving out.

Avelina Winery,
which opened its doors on September 20th, closed abruptly this week.But “it’s a good thing,” owner and winemaker
Christian Garvin, 39, says.“I’m taking the Avelina concept to North County,” he adds, potentially
Lompoc or Buellton, where he plans to set up a winemaking facility and store
under sole ownership.

The Avelina tasting room featured a farm truck-turned-wine bar

Avelina’s
departure leaves an empty 3000-square-foot space in the Anacapa Project, the
thriving downtown Santa Barbara complex that includes The Lark Restaurant, Les Marchands wine bar,
Guitar Bar and a handful of brewery, winery and distillery businesses.But Garvin says a new retail business is
already in line to take over “within the next 45 days.”

Avelina
quickly became a trendy wine tasting venue, but it doubled as a winery.The facility filled the winery’s own
production needs – it makes 9000 cases of wine a year – as well as Mr. Garvin’s
other wine ventures, including making and bottling private label wines.“We got to the point where we were making too
much wine for the space” he says.“There
were times when 75% of the room was taken up by pallets, stacked high.Customers could barely get in.The rent didn’t justify using the space that
way.That space was made for humans, not
for boxes.”

While he
insists he’s “happy” with the move, Mr. Garvin admits that it speaks to an
adjustment in the Funk Zone persona.“Five years ago, this was an industrial space, and now it’s a retail and
entertainment space,” he says.“It’s
like all the artists who used to have studios here.I’m moving my studio to make room for
retail.”

Mr. Garvin
has been making, selling and promoting wines in Santa Barbara County since the
late 1990s, when he worked at Fess Parker Winery and joined a fellow UCSB grad
to found Kahn Winery.He launched Oreana Winery in the Funk Zone 10 years ago, in a former tire shop, with a similar setup
to Avelina’s.“But we had a big parking
lot there,” he says, which eliminated overcrowding.Mr. Garvin sold Oreana to winemaker Danny
Miles last summer, ahead of Avelina’s grand opening.

By Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo(published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on January 23, 2014)

The upcoming Chinese New Year will shed
light on what may be a little known fact at Mattei’s Tavern: Chinese tradition
plays a big role here.

When Felix Mattei ran this historic Los
Olivos property in the late 1800s – a haven for weary travelers trekking up and
down Central California by stagecoach and rail – a Chinese cook by the name of Gin Lung
Gin was his right hand man.

“Gin was regarded as part of the Mattei
family, and he’s buried on the family plot,” says Emily Perry Wilson, who
co-owns and runs Mattei’s Tavern today alongside her husband, Chef Robbie
Wilson.“He was the property cook –
prepared breakfast, lunch dinner – and was known for his sugar cookies.”

Mr. Gin lived on the restaurant grounds,
even, in a small building to the rear of the restaurant, right next to where
the Wilsons installed their pizza oven.

In fact, when they took over the property –
the Wilsons partnered with entrepreneur Charles Banks to rebrand and relaunch
Mattei’s in July – they kept the outpost’s original chef in mind.The butcher station inside the exhibition
kitchen, for example, is adorned with a mural depicting his visage.And the menu is sprinkled with Asian-fusion
dishes.The “Crunchy Sea Creatures”
starter, for example, features tempura seafood served with an uni tartar sauce;
the short rib roast entrée comes with heirloom carrots and maitake mushrooms,
and is served in a tasty ramen broth; and the rotisserie chicken – cooked long
and slow over an open wood-burning pit – features a homemade sweet chili sauce.

Chef Robbie Wilson

On January 29th, Chef
Wilson is celebrating Mr. Gin’s birthday by cranking up the heat on a
Chinese-inspired, one-night-only, seven-course menu; the culinary feast
coincides nicely with the Chinese New Year, which, this year, lands on
January 31.

“The
best way I can pay tribute to the true history and heritage of Mattei’s Tavern
is by honoring its first chef with our pristine local product, and a Chinese
New Year's-inspired evening,” says Chef Wilson. “Gin would have wanted it that way!”

The chef’s vision: a pickles appetizer gives
way to a fried rice course, featuring aged ham.Shrimp toast follows, with ridgeback shrimp and black “sriracha” hot
sauce presented on toasted homemade brioche.The third course is a pretzel bun, featuring fried chicken wings, mint
and spicy chiles.The beef short ribs
that come next are accompanied by traditional noodles, peanuts, Thai chile and
an egg served sunny-side up.And the
Chinese long beans that follow are treated with rock sugar, plum and soy sauces
and cognac.An Arnold Palmer mocha cake
brings the birthday dinner to an end.

This special meal – priced at $53 per person
– will be served family-style for parties of two, four or six.Drinks are extra, but Mattei’s selection of
signature and classic cocktails, and a comprehensive international lineup of
wines, should leave no one at the table thirsty.

About Me

Welcome to the online home of Gabe Saglie. Gabe is Senior Editor for Travelzoo and a respected travel contributor for dozens of TV news programs and national shows. Gabe is also a longtime wine and food writer based in Santa Barbara, California, where he lives with his wife, two boys and daughter.